Science is for Sharing

I am sharing a few photos of Lightning I had clicked yesterday night over National Atmospheric Research Laboratory, Dept. of Space located at Gadanki, Andhra Pradesh, India. Cumulonimbus cloud band was observed in the eastern and southern sky and Gadanki was in periphery of the rain band. Also see the animated time series photos of the steps of lightning .  ~~~~~~~~~ Note the return stokes and bolts...!! ~~~~~~~~~ Recommended viewing: Full screen. Thanks to my Asus Zenfone.

Satellite images are are rich with useful and interesting information. It is not difficult to interpret them... here are some tips and stratergies....    They can show us how much a city has changed, how well our crops are growing, where a fire is burning, or when a storm is coming.  Here is a practical approach as given by Nasa Earth Observatory. Look for a scale Look for patterns, shapes, and textures Define the colors (including shadows) Find north Consider your prior knowledge Read more.... Check this link..... http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/ColorImage/?src=eorss-features Courtesy: Nasa Earth Observatory

Global warming from greenhouse gases affects rainfall patterns in the world differently than that from solar heating, according to a study. The scientists, led by Jian Liu (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and Bin Wang (International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa), showed that global rainfall has increased less over the present-day warming period than during the Medieval Warm Period, even though temperatures are higher today than they were then. As a result of global warming, precipitation is likely to increase in high latitudes and the tropics and to decrease in already dry subtropical regions. Read More http://phys.org/news/2013-01-greenhouse-gases-solar-complexity-global.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v493/n7434/full/nature11784.html doi:10.1038/nature11784

Atmospheric scientists have found that Rainfall is able to calm the convectively unstable atmosphere....! They calculate that a substantial portion of the energy that drives wind and air circulation in the atmosphere is dissipated as friction by raindrops falling through the air. Some of the dissipation of mechanical energy happens when a falling raindrop (or snowflake or hailstone) experiences friction as it passes through the surrounding air. Read more:  http://www.nature.com/news/rainfall-calms-storms-1.10100

Deforestation in the rainforests of West Africa reduces rainfall over the rest of the forest, according to new University of Leeds research published in Geophysical Research Letters. The study shows that changing land use from forest to crop land reduces rainfall over neighbouring trees by around 50% due to changes in the surface temperature which affects the formation of rain clouds. More information: 'How does local tropical deforestation affect rainfall' by L Garcia-Carreras and Douglas J Parker is published in Geophysical Research Letters doi:10.1029/2011GL049099 http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011GL049099.shtml http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-deforestation-rainfall-africa.html

Scientists made a breakthrough! In their paper published in Nature Communications, they describe a method whereby a laser is used to create nitric acid particles in the air to which moisture will gravitate forming droplets. Thereby triggering the formation of Rain.  Field measurements suggest the mechanism of laser-assisted water condensation,  Nature Communications  2, Article number: 456 doi:10.1038/ncomms1462 Read this article review here http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-scientists-technique-lasers.html Read full length paper http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v2/n8/full/ncomms1462.html